Lord of the Rings Strikes Again

I’m watching The Lord of the Rings again. And again, it hits me in all the right spots. Quote time:

“I would have followed you my brother. My captain. My king.” – Boromir
I wish I had a feeling of allegiance to something like a captain. If I joined the army or something like that, I’m sure I would. It would be a lot different if I were fighting alongside somebody like Aragorn or Boromir though. But, yeah, I would love to have that sort of allegiance.

“So do all who live to see such times, but that is not for them to decide. All you have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to you.” – Gandalf
We all love this quote. Too often has it been discussed, but I have to do it one more time, mainly because I’m actually living this quote right now. It’s neat to change one’s life so drastically, with no desired end or expected return. I wanted to do something great with “the time that has been given to me,” and this little excursion is part of that. I read T’s blog today and I’m blown away (again), and he is doing amazingly great things with his time. Man, I love that kid. Where would the world be without people like him?

“If you trust nothing else, trust this. Trust us.” – Arwyn

I don’t want to be thinking about it while I’m here, and I don’t want to try to meet someone here, and I don’t really want to care about it for awhile, but damn it, where’s my Arwyn? Where’s the woman I’m supposed to fight for? Don’t get me wrong, I love my guy friends and they give the ultimate support and encouragement in life, but when a man is down, nothing soothes like a woman’s smile, or touch of hand. I know you married men know what I’m talking about and also that I haven’t a clue of how actually true and probably inexplicably far from the real experience my piddly mind can imagine. I want my Arwyn. I want my wife. Is it God’s Will? I certainly hope so…

“Who am I, Gamling? – Theoden
A king, asking about his identity. If a king doesn’t know his identity or who he is, how do we? I realize that it’s not real, but still, it’s a good analogy. Who am I? What is my purpose? How am I to discern this? It’s nice that I have a lifetime to figure it out, right? Man, I love this movie.

“So much death. What can Men do against such reckless hate?” – Theoden
“Ride out with me. Ride out and meet them.” – Aragorn
What can men do against such reckless hate? What could the Protestants do against the Catholics in Ireland? What can we do against radical Islamists who are feeling “called” to kill Christians? I don’t understand how people, Americans, all around the world as I am realizing as I meet them, can hate President Bush for the war. How in the world can we not “ride out and meet them?” What else can we do? If I were to fight, here’s why:
“By rights, we shouldn’t even be here. But we are. It’s like in the great stories; the ones that really mattered; full of darkness and danger they were. And sometimes you didn’t want to know the end, because how could the end be happy? How could the world go back to the way it was when so much bad had happened? But in the end, it’s only a passing thing, this shadow. Even darkness must pass. A new day will come. And when the sun shines, it will shine out the clearer. Those were the stories that stayed with you; that meant something, even if you were too small to understand why. But I think I do understand; I know now. Folk in those stories had lots of chances of turning back, only they didn’t. They kept going; because they were holding on to something…That there’s some good in this world. And it’s worth fighting for.” - Samwise Gamgee
Definitely one of my favorite monologues in movie history. It makes me want to fight for world peace and for the good in this world to prevail, and evil to end. But, in the end, I think it has to be my personal battle; the battle for the good in myself to prevail over the evil. A daily choice, a life’s choice.